


Sunburn

by TheAuthorGod



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Best Friends, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Sunburn, i dunno if it really is but, i mean dean is sunburned and cas helps out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-10
Updated: 2016-09-10
Packaged: 2018-08-14 07:11:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8003206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAuthorGod/pseuds/TheAuthorGod
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt:  I'm not too good with coming up with prompts but maybe some destiel involving a water park or something and dean getting really bad sunburn and cas taking care of him?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sunburn

**Author's Note:**

> UNEDIT'D. UNPROOF'D. UNBETA'D.
> 
> As promised, at least 1k of destiel at a waterpark and treacherous sunburn for princekiliduran on tumblr. (I realize now that it wasn’t specified for AU or canonverse, so I went with AU.)

“Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow.”  
  
Dean’s mantra wasn’t very comforting while Castiel waited at a stop light. Castiel wiggled his toes where his barefoot was pressed to the brake pedal.  
  
They’d gone to the local waterpark today, which was an amazing waste of time. Seriously. They were basically waiting for school to start again. It was the last two weeks of summer. They’d managed to get jobs working at the same place, a summer daycare, but since the daycare doubled as a school in the fall, they closed completely for a week and a half at the end of August. That is perfect for the teachers so they can get their rooms ready for a new batch of students, but it meant boredom and misery for the summer workers.  
  
Luckily enough, the daycare had taken the kids on weekly outings to the local waterpark, so Dean and Cas already had summer-long passes. Otherwise, they definitely would not have been able to afford entry to the waterpark, even with their summer savings.  
  
“Green light green light green light green light.” Dean grit every word through his teeth.  
  
Taking heed, Castiel jerked his foot from one pedal to the other and gunned it through the intersection. He took a quick right turn into the Walgreens parking lot, taking the closest parking space to the door that wasn’t handicap parking only. “Hold tight, I’m gonna go get some aloe gel and be right back.”  
  
Dean squinted at him across the car. “Did you have to park in the sun?”  
  
Sighing, Castiel resigned himself to the fact that Dean was going to be a colossal pain until they had dealt with his horrible sunburn. He hopped out of the car, leaving it running so that he wouldn’t have to deal with Dean’s whining about a lack of air-conditioning.  
  
Inside, Cas felt a little lost. Having a tanner, olive-toned skin meant that he didn’t burn. He’d never used sunscreen. His sister, well step-sister, Anna had to use it, but he’d never needed it. He trudged up to the desk. “Hello, I’m looking for aloe gel.”  
  
The attendant, name-tag read Garth, nodded. “Aftersun creams and ointments are on aisle 3.” He pointed and Castiel walked off in that direction, coming to a halt under the little sign that read ‘After Sun’.  
  
So, there was a lot of different aftersun treatments. There were sprays and rubs and gels and creams and, honestly, Castiel felt completely out of his element. He picked up the plainest looking tube of green gel and flipped it over to look at the instructions. There were no instructions, just an ingredients list and a warning about not ingesting the stuff.  
  
He huffed. He pivoted to leave then thought about how much was in the tube. Was it really enough to cover all of Dean’s sunburn? Dean wasn’t small. Dean was broad shouldered and his surface-area was enhanced by his physical training.  
  
Castiel did not have time to list all of the attributes of Dean that were larger than average. He grabbed 5 more tubes of aloe before exiting the aisle.  
  
On his way to the register, he picked up two glass bottles of Cheerwine and a bag of beef jerky. Of course, he was behind an elderly gentleman who was trying to buy a pack of gum with exact change, so he tapped his foot on the cold tile.  
  
Absently, he realized that he didn’t have shoes on and that he could probably be denied service for that. Suddenly, he felt self-conscious of his feet. He glanced around to see if any other employees were around to see his mistake.  
  
None were, but his gaze was caught on the magazine shelf where they were proudly advertising a calendar. It was one of those charity calendars, filled with hunky firemen, trim police officers, and puppies. Snatching it from the shelf, Castiel soothed himself by mentally reminding that it was for the puppies and the charity not for the hunky firemen.  
  
The elderly man left with his gum and Castiel sidled up to the register.  
  
Garth helped him again. He rung up all 6 of the aloe tubes, the sodas, the jerky, and the calendar. With each thing, Castiel realized how strange the combination must be, but he refused to look guilty.  
  
Once he’d swiped the card and pressed all the necessary buttons, he grabbed the bag and bolted back out to the car. He threw the bag in the backseat and buckled in. His house wasn’t far, only 4 minutes at most.  
  
They hit a pothole in the road a little too hard. Dean grumbled as his red, heat-radiating body was jostled in the leather seat. “What took you so long?” He managed to sound concerned and like an asshole at the same time; it was a skill the most of the Winchester family had.  
  
Castiel turned into his driveway and turned off the car. He turned to Dean and stared at his best friend. He was almost glowing with the amount of sun exposure he’d managed to get. When they had gone with the daycare, there had been a system. On the way to the bus, they would spray each of the kids with a spray on sun spray and then send them to their assigned bus seat. That way, the sun screen would set before the kids got to the park and were too excited to sit still. At the end, Dean had always put on a show of spraying himself. It had been equally arousing and hilarious.  
  
Part of Cas felt like he should have asked Dean to make sure he knew. Another part of Cas though that Dean was old enough to remember sunscreen. “Fred Jones was ahead of me.” The guy used to be a friend of Dean’s father; occasionally, Cas and Dean would go over and cut his grass and such. Dean knew how the guy was.  
  
“Figures.” Dean peeled himself off the seat with a wince and made his way to the front door, trudging and keeping his arms oddly straight a splayed away from his body.  
  
Retrieving the Walgreens bag, Castiel hurried after him. He followed Dean to the bathroom where he set the bag on the counter and pulled out a two tubes of aloe gel.  
  
Paying little mind to Cas, Dean closed the lid of the toilet and gently sat. He took the proffered aloe tube and clicked it open.  
  
Doing the same, Castiel squeezed a healthy dollop into the palm of his hand before making contact with Dean’s shoulder.  
  
Dean hissed. “Fuck, Cas!” He jerked away. He took a few breaths to calm himself; his wide eyes searching up Castiel’s frame before settling on his gaze. “Warn a guy,” he bit out.  
  
“I thought it was rather obvious,” he deadpanned back. Cas took a step closer to Dean, trying to ignore the fact that Dean’s eyes were even more vibrant in contrast to his reddened skin. “I’m going to put aloe on your shoulder.”  
  
This time Dean didn’t jump, but he grumbled back, “Cheeky sonova-”  
  
Castiel cut him off by tapping a fingerprint sized dollop of aloe onto his other shoulder, the shoulder furthest from him.  
  
Taking the hint, Dean shut his mouth and applied aloe to his legs and thighs.  
  
They worked efficiently; Castiel covered Dean’s back, shoulders, and arms which Dean got his legs, stomach, and chest. His face was the last thing and Castiel did it quickly because Dean kept making pained faces at each application. After Dean was sufficiently sticky, covered in aloe gel, Castiel felt the tension drain from the room. He practically collapsed into a sitting position on the side of the tub. He breathed deeply. It wasn’t until then that he realized that he had been so worried. It was like he was coming up for air after sitting on the bottom of the pool.  
  
Anger surged up from somewhere deep in his heart, “Don’t ever forget sunscreen again, you asshat.” He smothered the urge to punch Dean in the arm, instead balling his hands into fists and hitting them to his own thighs.  
  
Silence fell over them. In a small voice, Dean replied, “I’m sorry.”  
  
Castiel blew out a hot breath and leaned over himself, resting his elbows on his knees. He stared at the bathroom rug and tried to pull himself out of the emotional pit he’d managed to dig for himself. Castiel wasn’t particularly adept with his emotions; it was probably what made he and Dean such good friends. There wasn’t much miscommunication because both of them were really shitty at communication. They’d learned over the years to be extremely truthful with each other, blunt even.  
  
Part of Castiel shriveled at the thought of the huge secret he’d been keeping from his best friend. Part of Castiel was still trying to keep it from himself, hide it, deny it. Within the year, they’d graduate; they’d be off to different colleges or Dean would start honest to goodness firefighter training. What would become of them at that point?  
  
Castiel was drug back from his thoughts when Dean’s sunburnt hand entered his field of vision, holding one of the Cheerwine bottles out to him. He took it gingerly, ensuring that he didn’t accidentally bump Dean’s hand. He told himself it was because of the sunburn and only the sunburn.  
  
Dean’s feet moved, indicating that he had swiveled where he sat on the closed toilet to face Cas better. “Thanks.”  
  
“For what?” Castiel tried to open his Cheerwine but found it sealed too tight.  
  
Taking it from him for a moment, Dean gave a quick twist and was rewarded with a loud pop. He handed it back. “For today.”  
  
Castiel took a swig of the Cheerwine. It was better than Mr. Pibb but not as good as Dr. Pepper. Sam liked to collect the bottles though, so Dean had taken a liking to them and that meant Cas drank them too. It wasn’t like they were bad, just not the absolute best.  
  
“Thanks for going to the Waterpark with me. Thanks for getting aloe. Thanks for the Cheerwine.”  
  
There was a tearing sound that drew Cas’ attention to the bag of beef jerky in Dean’s hands.  
  
Dean swung the jerky slightly in a strange acknowledgement, like a nod but not. “Thanks for the jerky.” He popped a piece into his mouth.  
  
Cracking a small smile, Castiel was happy that he could at least provide some comfort after the events of the day. It faded though. “Sorry for not reminding you.”  
  
“I shouldn’t have to be reminded.”  
  
“But still-”  
  
“No.” Dean bit his lip and swallowed the jerky he’d put in his mouth. “I’m more than old enough to remember.”  
  
Something about the soft way Dean was looking at him hit Castiel hard in the chest. In the frantic rush to alleviate Dean’s pain, it hadn’t exactly registered that he and Dean were sitting knee-to-knee, practically nose-to-nose, and Dean was shirtless.  
  
Castiel absently wondered if his face managed to be the same shade of red as Dean’s. It sure did feel like it.  
  
There was something in the air, something huge. Castiel’s mind returned from wherever it had gone and was met with an intensity from Dean’s eyes he hadn’t been prepared for. Had he missed something? Had Dean said something when he was paying more attention to his chest than his mouth?  
  
Oh, his mouth. Castiel stared at it. It was pretty and plump and looked smooth and wet unlike the rest of Dean. The rest of him glistened with what looked to be already dry aloe. Should he get up and start applying more?  
  
Not moving, Castiel tried not to ruin whatever moment they had going.  
  
Dean ruined it, however. He sat back and brought a hand to the back of his neck. He went to rub it, a nervous tick of his, but winced, probably because his hand met sunburned skin. “I uh, I wanted to talk to you about something.” He licked his lips. “I wanted, uh, I wanted to…” His eyes traced the towel rack on the wall across from him. “This probably isn’t the time or the place.” He began to stand. “Nevermind.”  
  
Standing up in an instant and for a moment feeling off-balance, Castiel pointed to the toilet seat. “Sit back down.”  
  
“Wha-? I said this wasn’t the time or place to-” Dean had to sit back down though; there wasn’t enough room for the both of them to move in the bathroom.  
  
Castiel moved around him. “Not that. Your aloe is dry; don’t you have to add more? Anna usually does, I think?”  
  
Looking down at himself, Dean seemed to realize that Cas was right and snatched up the tube of aloe he’d used earlier. He popped it open and readied to reapply.  
  
Following his example, Cas did the same. This time was different though. His higher brain functions were working now… or maybe they weren’t? It wasn’t entirely clear, but this time around, it was hard to concentrate on the task because his brain was preoccupied with how much of Dean’s skin he was touching.  
  
He smoothed the aloe over Dean’s back, the planes that his shoulder blades made, the muscles. He rubbed over his shoulders and arms, his neck.  
  
When Dean finished with his chest, he turned his face to Castiel. He froze, unnervingly still.  
  
Just as before, but also nothing like before, Castiel used the tips of his pointer and middle fingers to gently apply aloe to Dean’s face, his high cheeks, his usually freckles nose, his hard jaw.  
  
As he finished, Castiel dropped his hand to his side and just stared back at Dean. How would Dean ruin this moment? These were the moments that Cas yearned for, waited for. They were all he’d have when Dean was gone; one year wasn’t as long as everyone kept arguing. He already had his applications filled out for college. Dean already had his done per his mother’s insistence.  
  
Dean spoke; it was so low that Castiel barely heard him. “This time and place will have to do.”  
  
For only a moment, could Cas ponder over the meaning of those words.  
  
Surging up, Dean stood in Castiel’s space, grabbed Cas’ arms to hold him steady, and pressed their lips together.  
  
After what couldn’t possibly be long enough to be considered a kiss, Dean pulled away. It had been chaste. Neither of them had moved. It had been the exact same kiss they’d shared when they were 6. It wasn’t even as much as the kiss they’d shared in 5th grade as practice for all the 6th grade girls (and boys) they were bound to meet the next school year. It was a nothing-kiss, but Cas needed more.  
  
He leaned back in, settling his weight into Dean’s strong hands, still on his arms, and kissed him back.

**Author's Note:**

> Me: [marymotherofhunters](http://marymotherofhunters.tumblr.com)
> 
> Prompt: [princekilidurin](http://princekilidurin.tumblr.com)


End file.
